© 2026 ABC News

The shelter provides bed space and meals to 164 moms and kids on any given night and will never turn anyone away, said SafeHaven's president and CEO, Kathryn Jacob.

\"Children are more introspective than we realize,\" Jacob told \"Good Morning America,\" adding that Blake and his mom's identities are being kept confidential for safety reasons. \"The most important thing around the holidays are to make sure children in the shelter have as normal of an experience as possible.\"

She said Blake's mom found the letter in his backpack and showed staff at SafeHaven, who find letters like his \"an everyday occurrence for us.\"

The shelter posted the letter online to raise awareness on domestic violence.

\"[We've had] people respond and say they've either experienced this as an adult, or as a child who's seen violence,\" Jacob said. \"I think it's worth talking about because long after the celebrations of Christmas are over there are still children at SafeHaven and victims of domestic violence across the United States.\"

\"PHOTO:
SafeHaven of Tarrant County
PHOTO: Blake's note to St. Nick was shared on Facebook Wednesday by SafeHaven of Tarrant County in Fort Worth, Texas, and garnered hundreds of comments and shares.
>

Jacob said Blake has received compasses, one of his requests from Santa, in the mail since the letter was posted.

\"I encourage people to get involved with their local [shelters],\" Jacob said.

For anonymous, confidential 24/7 help on domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or 1-800-787-3224 (TTY).

Jacob said the hotline will direct you to a local number that will connect you to people who can help in your area.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/Family/boy-living-family-shelter-domestic-violence-writes-heartbreaking/story?id=67822786","legacySlug":"/family/story/boy-living-family-shelter-domestic-violence-writes-heartbreaking-67822786","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"15:30","publishDate":"12-19-2019","updatedTime":"13:05","updatedDate":"12-20-2019","socialImage":{"alt":"Blake's note to St. Nick was shared on Facebook Wednesday by SafeHaven of Tarrant County in Fort Worth, Texas, and garnered hundreds of comments and shares.","credit":"SafeHaven of Tarrant County","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/boy-living-shelter-writes-heartbreaking-letter-santa-ht-MAIN-np-191219_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"12/19/2019 15:30:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":67822786,"headline":"Boy in shelter writes heartbreaking Santa letter","mediaAssetTitle":"HEART-WRENCHING LETTER TO SANTA","description":"\"Mom said it was time to leave and she would take us to a safer place.\"","duration":"0:51","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/08/180803_gma_digital_police_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["61056609","65662949","67753135"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"February 14, 2019","headline":"This mom distributed hundreds of Valentines to domestic violence survivors","section":"living","slug":"/living/story/mom-distributed-hundreds-valentines-domestic-violence-survivors-community-61056609","id":61056609,"image":{"alt":"This mom distributed hundreds of Valentines to domestic violence survivors","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/MOM_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Courtesy Dedra Moon ","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"September 19, 2019","headline":"Officer helps homeless man struggling to shave","section":"living","slug":"/living/story/officer-helps-homeless-man-struggling-shave-65662949","id":65662949,"image":{"alt":"Officer helps homeless man struggling to shave","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/officer-helping-homeless-man-shave-street-ht-jc-190918_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Courtesy Jill Metiva Schafer","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"December 18, 2019","headline":"5-year-old's hot cocoa stand helps pay off 123 students' school lunch debt","section":"living","slug":"/living/story/year-olds-hot-cocoa-stand-helps-pay-off-67753135","id":67753135,"image":{"alt":"5-year-old's hot cocoa stand helps pay off 123 students' school lunch debt","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/5-year-old-pays-lunch-debt-hot-cocoa-ht-MAIN-np-191218_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Karina Hardee","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Boy in shelter writes heartbreaking Santa letter","description":"\"Mom said it was time to leave and she would take us to a safer place.\"","duration":"0:51","uploadDate":"12-19-2019","publication":"12-19-2019","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/08/180803_gma_digital_police_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/08/180803_gma_digital_police_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/family/story/boy-living-family-shelter-domestic-violence-writes-heartbreaking-67822786"}},"playlist":[{"id":"134302445","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134246001","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134202757","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134211156","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134179882","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134130187","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134161969","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134164484","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134145709","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134134667","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134099631","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134041491","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134033809","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"78356537","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133929295","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133958398","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133882828","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133810954","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133779647","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133810835","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:family:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"family","title":"Boy in shelter writes heartbreaking Santa letter","pubTime":"10:30","pubDate":"12-19-2019","modTime":"08:05","modDate":"12-20-2019","taxonomyTags":"none","id":67822786,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"Brittany Berkowitz","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Boy in shelter writes heartbreaking Santa letter","mediaAssetTitle":"HEART-WRENCHING LETTER TO SANTA","videoId":67822786,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/family/story/boy-living-family-shelter-domestic-violence-writes-heartbreaking-67822786"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/67822786","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/67822786","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};